More than a decade later:
Was My Post Grad Degree from Open University
Worth the Time & the Price?

Spoiler alert: yes.

In the Fall of 2002, I went back to formal studies for the first time in
more than 14 years. And after three years of those studies, and just three
months before my 40th birthday, I completed a Master of Science in Development
Management from Open University (OU).

The courses that make up OU's development management degree "are all
about managing interventions aimed at promoting positive social change in
multi-actor fields characterized by value-based conflict." (Thomas and
Chataway, 1999, TU872 , Open University). The courses address the
myriad of ways to successfully manage and sustain activities, projects and
initiatives in an integrated way so that they really do improve people's
lives and their environment, and address critical situations such as
HIV/AIDS, violence and discrimination against women, child labor,
illiteracy, environmental destruction, hunger, and so forth. It mixes
theory with practice, and presents a vast number of authors, practitioners
and publications to explore the many facets of development management. Open
University is a British University dating from the 1970s and
consistently ranked one of the top in the United Kingdom in terms of
teaching quality. If you are in the USA and have heard of it, it's
probably because of the movie Educating Rita.

So, now it's more than a decade later after receiving my degree. Was it
worth it? Did it pay off? Yes. Hugely.

First and foremost, it gave me knowledge I did NOT have before, and
that's what is most important about any degree. The courses changed my
work at the United Nations immediately - I began managing
UNV's/UNDP's Online Volunteering service
and my part of the United Nations
Information Technology Service (UNITeS) in very different ways
because of the courses I took at OU for this degree. In fact, I have to
say that OU was ahead of the curve in development management thinking, far
ahead of the UN. I was already a seasoned veteran of project management
and development projects. I was already an international expert in several
fields. But the OU courses gave me a perspective I never would have gotten
only through working - just as working gave me perspectives and skills I
couldn't have gotten just from studying. These courses helped me to see
exactly where an individual development activity should fit into an
overall country strategy, and how to take an individual project and
elevate its activities to where it's doing so much more than generating
quantitative data. I understood how a water and sanitation project about
well water could become a woman's empowerment project. I understood how a
participatory exercise could end up excluding certain people and how to
avoid that. I saw how no humanitarian activity happens in a vacuum - and
such can never be successful without strong, real community buy in and
partnerships with other initiatives. The skills the courses gave me
regarding evaluating projects alone was worth the time of the courses. OU
materials have, indeed, better prepared me for work
in the field: the courses gave me tools I've used in my work,
prepared me for current and future trends, and brought me up-to-speed to
the very particular language of international development that various
agencies use (though I still get confused by some terms and acronyms).

My degree also kept me in the UN system and helped me get work with
other international agencies as well. My first
job in the UN was a unique situation, one that's probably never
happened before and hasn't happened since. I knew that, to stay in the UN
and continue to work in international development, I needed a
post-graduate degree. I hoped that I could better-ensure that I would
continue to get jobs that I would truly love if I got a Master's in a
subject I felt passionate about, and, indeed, that happened.

Yes, OU is TERRIBLY expensive for international students (because, unlike
British students, we don't receive government subsidies to attend). You
will gasp at the prices. But, for the MSc in Development Management, I
think it's worth the price. The materials are absolutely outstanding --
up-to-date and comprehensive, offering a variety of perspectives,
approaches and criticisms regarding development management. Also, the
other students in the OU Development Management classes are mostly working
professionals -- so my fellow students are a lot like me, as opposed to
having only academic experience or being fresh out of undergrad.

Several years ago, a colleague said, "Hey, I need a quick and easy
Master's Degree. You are doing the OU program - it's quick and easy,
right?" I told him no, absolutely not, and if it had been, I wouldn't have
done it. This is a real degree program that requires a great deal of time
and effort. I wouldn't have settled for anything less than this program.